1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the installation of tile or other rigid elements of the type generally secured by an adhesive, and more particularly, to a template used to simplify the cutting of tiles to be installed in irregular spaces.
2. Description of the Related Art
Ceramic tile is a widely-used and highly-desired covering for floors, walls, countertops, and other surfaces. Ceramic tile is highly durable, easily cleaned, and attractive. Ceramic tile is available in a number of standardized sizes and shapes. Installation typically requires application of a wet mastic adhesive to the floor or wall to which such tile is to be secured.
When laying ceramic tile, one typically begins laying tile from the center of a room, placing additional tiles in adjacent rows and columns, and working one's way outwardly toward the outer perimeter of the room. These central whole pieces of tile are typically referred to as the "field tile". However, one typically finds that, at the outer perimeter of the area being tiled, less than a whole tile is required to fill the available space. In addition, at corners of a room, or in areas where, for example, a baseboard juts into the tile space, whole tiles must be cut to fit within the available space. Tile cutting is typically accomplished by a so-called "wet saw", a circular saw which is continuously wetted to keep the saw blade from overheating. Cutting ceramic tile is tedious; nonetheless, tile cutting has been typically performed in the past by trial and error methods. If one cuts away too little material, the tile must be brought back to the saw, and the whole cutting procedure must be repeated. On the other hand, if one cuts too much material away, then the cut tile must be discarded, and one must start again with a fresh tile. Thus, this trial and error method often proves to be time-consuming and wasteful.
Others have attempted to provide tools for marking tiles to be placed within irregular spaces. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,471,758 (White) discloses a tile measuring device for marking a tile prior to cutting. However, the disclosed device, commercially marketed by VersaTool Development Company of Tempe, Arizona under the brand name "Perfect Angle Pro", is expensive and relatively difficult to use. In addition, such tool would appear to be limited to square tiles, whereas ceramic tiles are available in a wide variety of shapes.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide an apparatus and method for simplifying the task of cutting rigid tiles to fit within irregular spaces.
Another object of the present invention is to increase the accuracy of wet or dry cutting of rigid tiles and the like.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus and method for facilitating the cutting of tiles without imposing any significant additional expense to a user.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide such an apparatus and method which quickly and accurately indicates the portions of a whole tile that need to be cut away in order for the tile to fit within an irregular space.
A further object of the present invention is to provide such an apparatus which is simple and inexpensive to manufacture.
A still further object of the present invention is to provide such an apparatus and method which can be adapted to tiles of any shape.
These and other objects of the present invention will become more apparent to those skilled in the art as the description thereof proceeds.